Big Time Game Show
by BTRHortenseWINS
Summary: Big Time Rush are contestants on the most popular game show for kids: Celebrity Countdown. Their friend Jo is the host, but something's wrong-she's acting like a complete and utter jerk! Logan, James, and Carlos think fame has gone to Jo's head, but Kendall wants to be optimistic. After all, Jo's still the girl he's always loved...isn't she? But why is she being so mean to him?
1. Round One

Spotlights shone down on the glittery platform. The audience cheered as the upbeat music started playing; a huge television screen on the back wall of the stage turned on, flashing the words "Celebrity Countdown" in large, colorful letters.

Celebrity Countdown was a gimmicky game show created for The Dimelodeon Channel. The show was simple; there were four celebrity contestants per game. The contestant who ended up with the most points by the end of the show got the honor of hosting it the following week.

The audience this time were mainly Big Time Rush fans, due to the fact that it was Big Time Rush's turn to guest star on the show. The crowd was filled with tweens, teens, and young adults, much to the baffled amusement of the Dimelodeon staff. They had believed that Big Time Rush were only popular with the younger kids, and wrote the teleprompter's script for their celebrity host to reflect that. This week's celebrity host was none other than Jo Taylor, winner of last week's game. Jo grimaced as she looked at the words on her teleprompter, which was a ways away, but directly in front of her. Only she could see what was written on the screen.

"Hello everyone, I'm Jo Taylor from the program New Town High," She paused for a second as some people in the audience started cheering at the mention of her show. _At least, what used to be my show._ She thought, _I haven't been on New Town High in over a season, but I've starred in several movies. Why did The Dimelodeon Channel make me talk about a show I'm not even in anymore?_ Jo then read the next line once it appeared on the screen. "Starting next week, New Town High will be airing right here on Dime, Friday nights at 8!" _Ah, that's why._

She continued reading, "If you're under 15, you probably don't know who the next contestants are." She paused again, this time because the audience started booing. _As if most Rushers didn't like me already_, she thought bitterly. Dime would most likely replace their booing with applause when they edited the episode. She read the next line, "Big Time Rush have stolen the hearts of many young tween fans worldwide. So give it up to Carlos, Logan, James, and Kendall!"

The crowd started cheering as the band walked out from backstage. They all stood behind their podiums in the order Jo said, and waved to their fans. They started screaming even louder, and it took minutes before the audience calmed down enough for Jo to keep talking.

"Now, this is the_ first _time these four handsome men have been on Dime. How are you guys feeling?"

"Great, Jo!" Kendall said, "I am _very _excited to be here with such a lovely host." That comment resulted in some _awww_'s by the audience, though most were silent. Jo smiled, though she didn't reply. Hosts of Celebrity Countdown were contractually obliged to stick with the script written on the teleprompter. Sometimes the Dime staff would say something into the earpiece hosts wore for them to repeat, but usually the earpiece was reserved for warnings. If a host got off-script too many times, then they would get what the audience knew as Celebrity Sludge. To the viewers, a Celebrity Sludge was random, and was when the host got drenched in gooey and slimy blue Sludge. A Celebrity Sludge could happen once, twice, five times, or none at all.

Only the hosts of the show knew the truth. A Celebrity Sludge was actually invented by Dimelodeon to keep their hosts in line, and to make sure they didn't get off-script. Not even Jo's friends, the boys of Big Time Rush, knew what was going on when she said her next line. "I'm glad you all are excited to be here. Now, Hortense, why don't you start off the round?"

There were some giggles from the audience, and some glares from a few of the Rushers. Logan looked confused when he spoke, "Uh, Jo, that's not my name."

James laughed. "Well, it technically is, _Hortense_."

"No, it's not." Logan argued, "Well, not anymore."

New words appeared on the teleprompter. "Hortense, our first game is called 'Trivial Bash'. You have to answer as many questions as you can within three minutes. Once you get a wrong answer, your turn will go on to the next person. Are you ready?"

"Okay, but my name isn't-"

Logan was cut off by the peppy Celebrity Countdown theme song. The stage darkened a bit, and a spotlight shined on both Logan and Jo. Jo had cards in her hands containing questions, and she begun by reading off the first one. "I'm going to start you off with something easy. For 50 points, name the mascot of The Dimelodeon Channel?"

Logan smiled, "Cedar Sludge the mouse." He was delighted when he heard a _ding, _and his score was raised to 50.

"Good job. Let me give you another easy question: What's the full name of your bandmember Carlos?"

Another spotlight was shined on Carlos, who looked happy as he waved to the camera. Logan was still smiling, "Easy! Carlos Jorge Garcia."

This time, a buzzer went off. It meant Logan was wrong. Jo looked down at her card, "Uh, sorry. The correct answer was 'Carlos George Garcia."

The spotlights that were on Carlos and Logan turned off, and one on James turned on. It was his turn now.

But Carlos interjected, "No! Logan was right! My name's Carlos _Jorge _Garcia, not Carlos _George _Garcia! You're supposed to pronounce the 'J' as an 'H'. Jo, you should know this!"

From the darkness, Kendall asked "Yeah, you should know our names. What's going on?"

Jo wanted to tell them that she was merely just reading her script, but she couldn't or else she'd break her contract. Her earpiece came alive with sound, "_Move on to the next question_." Said someone from Dime's staff.

She sighed. _Sorry, guys... _she thought, reading from the next card. "James, for 50 points, what-"

"No!" James said, "Logan was right! Give him his 50 points!" The boys all agreed, and the audience shouted exclaims of "Yeah!" and "Give him his points!" at Jo.

The Dime staff repeated "_Give James his question_" into her earpiece. Jo shook her head sadly. "Sorry, he was wrong."

"But Logan isn't wrong!" Kendall argued, "You should know that."_  
_

"I know, but I can't do anything about it!" Jo said, then winced when a painful buzzing noise occurred in her ear. It was a warning for going off-script. She quickly read her question, "James, what's the name of the first song on your new album?"

"Give Logan his points." James answered.

A staff member from Dime spoke into Jo's earpiece. She repeated it word-for-word, "I'm really sorry, but Hortense was wrong. Now, answer the question, please."

Logan's microphone was muted when he complained about his name. James crossed his arms in defiance. "The first song on our album is called 'What Makes You Beautiful.'"

A buzzer sound was heard, and the spotlight was switched to Kendall, who didn't look too happy. Jo told everyone what the correct answer was, then moved on to the next question. "For 50 points, name all five members of the band Colorful Pants."

Kendall looked away when he answered, "Their names are Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, and Dopey." Another buzzer was heard, and the spotlight was moved to Carlos.

"Sorry, that's incorrect." Jo said, then gave the correct answer. The boys seemed angry at her, and she felt bad. But she really didn't want to be covered in that Sludge. The blue Sludge stained your clothing, skin, and even your hair if left in long enough.

She kept to the script, "Carlos, for 50 points, tell us the name of the new Dimelodeon princess movie that's coming out to theaters next month."

Carlos didn't answer. He turned away from the cameras. An awkward silence followed, and her earpieced buzzed; someone from the Dime staff told her to get him to answer.

Jo repeated herself, "There are 10 seconds left on the clock. Carlos, what's the name of the new Dimelodeon movie?"

Carlos still didn't speak. Kendall said something, but his mic was muted so no one heard except for James, who was right next to him. He nodded, and they both looked at Jo. James seemed angry while Kendall just looked confused.

The clock finally ticked away to zero, ending the round. The lights turned back on, and Jo looked at her teleprompter. "The first round is finished! Hortense is leading with 50 points, but it's still anyone's game." Her last sentence wasn't heard by anyone because the audience started boo-ing when she said the word 'Hortense'. She kept talking, wanting to get off stage as soon as possible. "We're taking a little break, but stay tuned; there's more to come!"

The camera's turned off. Once this episode aired on Dimelodeon, this would be where the show would have its first commercial break. Thankfully this wasn't live television. They all had a ten-minute intermission before the next round started. Jo wanted to find Kendall and the others and tell them what was going on. She couldn't possibly tell them everything, or else she'd break her contract. But hopefully she could convince them that none of this was her fault.

Jo looked over at the contestant area, and saw that Big Time Rush were already gone, much to her surprise. _Where did they go? _She wondered, _Well...I have ten minutes. I can find them, and-_

A voice started speaking into her earpiece, "_Jo Taylor, please come to the main conference room. We need to talk."_

* * *

"I can't believe Jo!" Carlos said, hurriedly walking backstage. "My middle name is Jorge, not George!"

"Yeah, well, at least you didn't get called 'Hortense' on national TV." Logan responded, picking up a piece of toast from the snacks table and biting into it. "The food here is good, though..." He murmured.

"Yeah, why was Jo doing that?" James asked. He picked up a picture from the table and gazed at it. "She was acting weird."

"Weird? You're the one who told Dime to fill up the snack table with pictures of Lucy." Kendall said, pointing to the countless stacks of photos laying on the table.

"Lucy is the love of my life!" James countered, hugging the picture to his chest. "She'll never do me wrong, unlike your girlfriend."

"But we all know that Jo doesn't normally act like that. She's never called Logan 'Hortense' before., and did you hear how she was talking out there? She said our band was for children, and acted like she didn't even know us. She sounded...fake. I think someone's feeding her her lines." Kendall said. The other boys didn't look too convinced.

"I didn't see any cue cards, or a teleprompter." Logan said, "Yeah, Jo did speak oddly, but where could she be getting her lines from?"

Kendall thought it over. He was stumped, but didn't want to give up defending his girlfriend. "Maybe we just can't see the teleprompter? We all know that Jo didn't sound like herself, so there must be some sort of script she was reading that made her say those things."

"Okay, maybe someone's telling her what to say." James argued, "But when she saw that they wanted to call Logan 'Hortense', or say that Carlos's middle name was pronounced 'George', she should've said something! She could've changed her lines, or tell the judges they were wrong. She's the host! She's like, at the top of the food chain over here! She could've done something."

"There has to be a reason to why she didn't do anything. Look, let's just find her and ask her about what's going on."

Carlos looked past them, "She's over there!" He said, pointing. The boys looked in that direction, and saw that Jo was walking straight towards them, looking pretty distraught.

But she wasn't looking at where she was going, and almost knocked into James. She stopped, and looking startled as she gazed at the boys. "Oh, hey guys. Look, I can explain-" She suddenly cut off, putting her hand over her ear for some reason. "Alright, I'm coming!" She said, to seemingly no one.

"Who are you talking to?" Kendall asked, but Carlos butted in with his own comment. "Jo! Say my middle name."

Jo backed off, walking around the guys. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go."

"Say my middle name!" Carlos belted, "Say it! Say it out loud!"

"And why do you keep calling me Hortense?" Logan asked. Jo looked like she was about to answer, but then she put her hand up to her ear again in shock. "OW! Ow, okay, I have to go. I can't break my contract, or else-" She paused; she couldn't tell them what would happen if she broke her contract. The Dime employees were everywhere; they were watching her. "I..I have to go. Sorry!" She turned around, and sped off somewhere.

"She's acting really weird." Kendall said, "Let's follow her, I want to see where she's going."

"You're not going anywhere." A familiar voice said. The boys turned and saw Gustavo. "Dogs, we need to talk."

* * *

Near the back of the stage was a door leading into a hallway. The door was marked 'Authorized Employees Only', but all Jo had to do was to show her host's ID to get let in. Immediately to the right was the room she was looking for. It was the main conference room.

Her heart raced. She wasn't looking forward to this at all.

When Jo was a guest on the show last week, everyone was kind to her. Especially the other contestants. The other contestants were a mismatch of actors from Dimelodeon shows, with her being the only non-Dime star on the program. She thought it was odd how the other contestants didn't even seem like they were trying. They got the answers wrong to the most simplest of questions, and were extremely ecstatic when she won the right to host this week's episode.

_The Celebrity Sludge... _Jo thought, shuddering. _It isn't like the Sludge they throw at you during the Children's Choice Awards. This one stains you, smells horrible, and ruins your clothing_.

It wasn't until right before the show started when she learned the truth about the Celebrity Sludge. Sure, she's been Sludged before. Last year, at the Children's Choice Awards, she got covered in the blue slime. But the Celebrity Sludge was made using different ingredients. Different, horrible ingredients.

It was now or never.

Jo turned the handle on the door, opening it up to reveal a conference room. There was a large, rectangular table. Three adults were seated together at the furthest end. Jo nervously walked to the closest chair.

"Don't sit down. This won't take long." Agnes, the woman on the far right, said. Jo immediately froze, standing in place with a tentative smile on her face. While the other two adults at least acted like they were nice to her at first, Agnes always seemed to have a sour disposition, almost as if everything and everyone bothered her.

The man on the far left, Guillermo, spoke next. "Oh, come on. Let the poor kid sit! She looks scared out of her mind!"

Agnes shot Guillermo a glare, but the man responded with only a grin.

The woman rolled her eyes, but relented. "Alright, sit." She motioned with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Jo slowly pulled her chair out, and sat down. "Umm...you guys called for me?"

"Yes..." The lady in the middle, Ms. White, said.

In the entertainment business, for one reason or another, everyone was called by their first names. Kelly, Gustavo...even old grumps like Agnes were called by their first name. But Ms. White was different. She hadn't been in the entertainment business for long, but Celebrity Countdown was her show, and it was the highest-rated program on Dimelodeon. In fact, celebrities actually have to beg and petition to be on her show. Only the best and most popular teenagers got to be on Celebrity Countdown, so to be a contestant on it was seen as something special.

Ms. White's tv show was influential and respected. And, in turn, she wished to be respected. Not even her closest employees could call her by her first name.

The woman continued to speak. "Jo, do you understand why you are here?" She asked nicely, though a trace of venom could be found under her words.

"I went off-script?" Jo replied, looking at the potted plant behind the adults rather than at the adults themselves.

"Look at me when you speak, dear." Ms. White said.

Jo forced herself to look at the adult. "Umm-"

"Don't mumble; it's not polite."

Jo cut off, gulping. Guillermo's seemingly out-of-place friendly smile did little to help ease her nerves.

She tried again. "I went off-script." Jo said, this time looking straight at Ms. White. The same woman who was oh-so-nice to her last week was meaner than a drill sergeant this week. Was this how she treated every guest host?

The woman nodded, then spoke again. "Do you know what happens when a celebrity host, one such as yourself, goes off-script too many times?"

"Yeah." Jo started, but then corrected herself. "I mean...Yes. I do. I'll get Sludged."

Agnes raised an eyebrow. "That's the most of your concerns?" She said, rolling her eyes. "I told ya that these kids never read their contracts."

"Aw, you can't blame her! The stuff these hosts sign are like, 300 pages long! You'd be insane to read the whole thing front to back!" Guillermo said, clasping his hands together. "That's why we put all of the worst stuff near the end!"

"Worst stuff?" Jo deadpanned, "You mean there's something worse than being Celebrity Sludged?"

"Of course!" Agnes bellowed, but was silenced by a wave of Ms. White's hand.

Ms. White spoke, "Look at chapter 23 of your contract, dear." She said, sliding the large mass of papers across the table. Jo did as she was told, and was greeted by a large amount of text in a tiny, hard to read font. There was a reason why she gave up on reading this thing after chapter 2.

"Paragraph 10, line 15." Ms. White continued, "Read it out loud."

It took a few moments for Jo to even find paragraph 10; the text was just so small. She squinted her eyes, trying to read the fine print. "If the host gets Celebrity Sludged, then they and the contestants forfeit their right to appear on the channel Dimelodeon...wait, why does me getting Sludged have anything to do with Big Time Rush?"

"It's in their contract as well!" Guillermo explained, "If you get Sludged, then both you and them can't appear on Dime anymore."

"But, I used to be in New Town High. And that show's going to start airing new episodes on this station soon."

Ms. White replied, "Yes, that's correct. But I checked; you were only in Season One, were you not? And in about one Season Three episode? After that, your character tragically disappears in a ballooning accident. That show is currently in Season Five. It would be easy to just skip over any episode you were in."

"How would you have the authority to do that?" Jo argued, "You're just the creator of Celebrity Countdown, not the CEO of Dimelodeon!" She then quieted down when she noticed the stares she was getting from the other adults. She didn't mean to make an outburst like that.

Agnes was the one who answered her. "Young child, between the three of us, we've created the most popular TV shows of all time. I was the creator of Drew and Jack, Ted's Unclassified School Survival Notes, and Magic Middle School." Jo's eyes widened as she recognized the names of each program, "Guillermo created The Boyband Project, and Coco.0. Lastly, Ms. White created Celebrity Countdown, the most popular gameshow in history. Do you really think it'd be impossible for us to make sure you and your boyband friends don't appear on Dime anymore?"

Jo thought for a moment. "Well, I guess not." She concluded, "But I do movies now, and New Town High still airs on both its original channel and on ABC Teen, so you not showing my episodes shouldn't be a big deal if I get Sludged."

Agnes rolled her eyes. "She still doesn't get it." She said, turning to the others, "Teenagers these days..."

"Oh, I'll explain!" Guillermo said, "Okay, Jo? You know how your contract says that if you got Sludged, both you _and _the contestants couldn't appear on Dime anymore?"

He didn't wait for an answer, "Well now, I'm sure you've heard about Big Time Rush's new cartoon show!"

Jo gave him a confused look, causing him to gasp. "You mean your friends didn't tell you about their new cartoon? Not even your boyfriend Hortense?"

"Logan isn't my boyfriend. But...no, I haven't heard of a cartoon."

Guillermo sat back in chair, sighing dramatically. "Well, I guess that's reasonable. They've only signed on to Dimelodeon last week."

"It's going to be on Dimelodeon!?" Jo said, pieces finally falling into place. She didn't like what this foretold, not one bit.

Ms. White nodded sagely. "Yes, it's true. Big Time Rush is supposed to start working on their cartoon later this week. However, if a host like yourself happens to stray too far from the script, and get Sludged, well...we could always get one of Simon Cowell's boybands instead." She said, letting Jo fill in the blanks.

She couldn't believe it. "But why? Why is it so important for me to stick to the script like this?"

"Ratings." Ms. White said. "I assume you don't actually watch this show; most celebrities don't. After all, it's very gimmicky. But that's what draws the viewers in. Making our hosts mispronounce names, give unfair questions, and act like jerks is what entices the audience."

"The audience weren't 'enticed', they were hateful for having me out there."

Guillermo grinned, "We know. The whole Jo/Hortense relationship isn't that popular with the Rushers, isn't it?"

"I'm not dating–" Jo was cut off when Guillermo continued, "Yeah, there was a reason why we had Big Time Rush on this week! Make Jo be a jerk to Hortense! Make Hortense break up with Jo on-screen! Rating's gold!"

"W-what?" Jo exclaimed, "No, you can't make me break up with–"

"Oh, we can." Agnes said. "You teenagers don't tend to date very long as it is. We just have to write in a few hateful comments here and there in the script, and he'll break up with you soon enough."

Ms. White picked up the conversation, "Though, we don't _have_ to make that sweetheart Kendall break up with you." The fact that Ms. White actually knew who Jo was dating wasn't much of a relief to her, "All you have to do is go off-script. Of course, if you go off-script too much, you'll get Sludged. And if you get Sludged..."

"You'll cancel Big Time Rush's cartoon show." Jo concluded, eyes watering. This was a lose-lose situation for her.

"**_UH OH OH AH_**_** OHHHH!**"_

Jo jumped out of her seat, but the adults remained still. Ms. White smiled, "Seems like Round Two's about to start. Good luck."

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Xx**

**Disclaimer: The Dimelodeon Channel isn't supposed to just be a parody Nickelodeon. As you can see, their mascot is a mouse, they have princess movies, and their Sludge is blue, which are themes from The Disney Channel. Just clarifying; I'm not trying to make it seem like Nick is the root of all evil or anything. **

**Big Time Rush will have a bigger part next chapter! Thank you for reading.**


	2. Round Two

"**_UH OH OH AH_**_** OHHHH!**__"_

The band's most recognized song started to play, meaning it was time for them to go back on stage.

Gustavo's speech with them was surprisingly short. Ms. White, the head creator of Celebrity Countdown, had told Gustavo of a part in the boys' contracts that they didn't read(Of course, no one read their contracts. It was over 300 pages long, after all!). Apparently, if the boys got Jo to be Celebrity Sludged, they'd all get a 30% bonus on their paychecks.

She didn't tell Gustavo how to get Jo to be Celebrity Sludged, though. Apparently that was a 'show secret'. She did give him a hint, though: Have the boys act both crazy and rude to Jo, and it just might happen.

Despite the fact that Gustavo practically ordered them to win the extra money, Kendall had his reservations.

"We shouldn't get Jo Sludged just to get a bonus." He said, "Especially if we have to act like jerks to her to get it to happen."

_"_Well yeah, being a jerk is bad for my image." James said. "But being crazy, though? That, we all can do."

Kendall put his arm out, stopping the guys from walking back on stage. He looked at them and said, "I can't put my finger on it, but there's something wrong with this show."

"The only thing wrong with this show is that Jo's acting weird. Besides, being Sludged isn't that bad. It's not like it stains or anything." James replied, and he started walking back towards the stage.

Carlos spoke, "I think being Sludged is fun! It smells like yogurt and berries...but it tastes like glue."

"Why would you eat Sludge?"

"It smelled like yogurt! I thought it would've tasted like it too."

"Guys, you aren't listening!" Kendall said, raising his voice over the audience. They started cheering the minute the boys walked on stage. "There's something messed up with this show that's making Jo act weird, and don't you think it's strange that we all get bonuses if she gets Sludged?"

Logan thought for a moment, "Not really." He said, stepping on his podium. Dime employees came to hook up his microphone, "I've heard that Celebrity Sludges were the most loved part of this show. Sometimes it doesn't happen, so Ms. White probably put that bonus in to make us want it to occur."

"Yeah, but they want us to act rude to her. Why would being rude get her to be Sludged?"

"All I know is that I want that bonus." James said. Kendall glared at him, and opened his mouth to speak, however he closed it when a Dime employee told the band that their mics were turned on. The conversation would have to be cut short until their next break.

* * *

When Jo walked out to her host's podium, the applause abruptly ended. James felt bad; he knew that the Kendall and Jo relationship wasn't very well loved by their fans.

He then thought back to the love of his life, Lucy Stone. Sure, she's turned him down a lot, and said that they would "never ever be together", but love always found its way. One day, Lucy will wake up and realize just how gorgeous, beautiful, and sensitive James was, and agree to go out on a date with him. It was only a matter of time.

But if they were to date, would the fanbase hate them as much as they hated Kendall and Jo? Most of the fans didn't even like Logan and Camille, and they've practically been together since day one.

The cheery theme song for Celebrity Countdown started playing, and James looked at Jo as she begun to speak to the audience.

"Welcome back, everyone! It's the start of round 2, and Hortense here has the lead." The audience started booing when she said 'Hortense'. Jo continued to smile, though. What was she doing? James thought calling him by his real name was funny at first, but this was just overkill.

Jo sucked in a breath, and kept talking. "So, Hortense, I hear you have a girlfriend?"

The microphones shut off, and no one heard Logan say "That's not my name!", but it turned back on for the next part of his sentence, "I do have a girlfriend, though you know how we don't want to be very public about it."

"Isn't it true that Camille hasn't been able to book anything in months?" Jo said, "Unlike me, who's been in three movies in the past two years, and have booked multiple guest spots on shows?"

"Uh...well.." Logan was at a lost for words. James was too. Everyone knew about Camille's struggles in acting, but Jo didn't have to point that out on television!

Even though she hasn't ever acted like this before, she's acting like this now, and that's all that matters. James wasn't about to let anyone walk all over his friend like that.

But it was Kendall who spoke first. "Jo, what are you doing? Camille's your friend...and so is Logan! Is something going on?"

The girl hesitated, looking over her shoulder for a moment. Then she looked back at Kendall and said, "I'm just saying, Camille's been in the acting business all of her life while I just started a few years ago. And look at who's famous? Me!"

The audience started to boo, yelling at the host. Jo looked back over her shoulder, then at the boys. "So, Hortense, do you have anything to say about your less-talented girlfriend?"

Logan stammered, trying to find an answer. "She's not untalented, you should know that!" He then lowered his eyes, staring at the podium. "And, that's not my name." That line was muted again, for some reason. James felt his anger boil up inside.

"Hey, shut up about Camille! I thought you two were supposed to be best friends!? Can't you tell that you're hurting _Logan_'s feelings?" James said, stressing his friend's actual name to the fullest. He looked at Logan, who was still staring at the podium in silence. James then looked at Jo, whose hand was over her right ear. She then lowered her hand and looked at James. "I'm just pointing out the obvious." She said.

"Can we just get started on round two?" Kendall asked.

"Oh, but this _is _round two. Which ever one of you bores me the least gets the points."

James narrowed his eyes, thinking about the bonus from earlier. He and his bandmates deserved the extra money from having to submit being mocked in front of their fans. Jo deserved to be Sludged.

* * *

Logan looked down at his podium, feeling ashamed. But why did he feel ashamed? It was Jo who was attacking him, for whatever reason. And it wasn't like he didn't hear other people call his girlfriend talentless. It was either haters or jealous fans who made fun of Camille, but it hadn't ever bothered him before. He knew Camille wasn't talentless, she just has bad luck in auditions. He understood that, and has always supported her no matter what.

James, Carlos, and Logan were never that close to Jo. They'd talk to her when she was in the apartment, but the conversations were usually short and brief. The guys and Jo were friendly, but Logan didn't think any one of them could call her a 'close friend' of theirs. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that she was dating Kendall, the boys probably would rarely speak to Jo, if ever.

Was Jo always like this? Maybe Logan never realized it because they only talked when it was necessary. But if Jo really was a mean person, Kendall wouldn't be dating her, wouldn't he? Then again, The Jennifers were rude people, and Kendall at one point wanted to date one of them. This was too confusing.

Logan continued to stare at his podium when Jo spoke again, "Hey James, nice outfit you got there."

When James didn't answer, she continued. "Where did you get your clothes? Carlos's closet?"

"Hey!" James said, offended. "My clothes are much better than Carlos's!"

"Hey!" Carlos mirrored, also sounding offended. "He's right! His clothes are much better than mine!"

Jo corrected herself, "Actually, with that plaid shirt you're wearing, I'm beginning to think that you took your clothes from Kendall."

"My plaid shirts aren't bad..." Kendall said, though he didn't seem very sure of himself. "Remember when I used to wear those ugly beanies all the time? Now _that _was bad!" He chuckled, causing the near-silent audience to laugh along with him. "But still, though. You shouldn't knock James's fashion; he was the one who chose our prom clothes last year!"

Carlos agreed, "Yeah! Don't knock him just 'cuz fashion's his passion."

Logan looked up, and saw that Jo went into a confused silence, staring at Kendall with a hand over her right ear. Her pause only lasted a second though, because she lowered her hand and spoke again. "Yeah, fashion's his passion. Didn't James win Prom Queen? In fact, we even have pictures!" Jo gestured to the back of the stage where a large flat-screened TV slowly rose into place. A picture of James in a dress and his Prom Queen crown flashed onto the screen. James had his arms up, trying to shield his face from the camera, but it was pretty obvious to who it was. This also wasn't new news to the audience members; the internet-savvy Rushers had already seen leaked pictures of James in a prom dress the year before. Even the ones who didn't venture on the internet much knew about James winning Prom Queen. All Jo did when showing the audience that picture of him was the raise forgotten memories.

Some members of the audience chuckled, but they were quickly hushed by the people around them. Logan glanced at James and saw his red face and clenched fists and knew that he was fuming. Logan should say something. He should speak in defense of his friend. But he couldn't think of what to say.

Kendall came to the rescue, "Yes, James _did _dress up as a girl once. But so did Logan, Carlos and me. Remember, Jo? Back when we were trying to hide from both the paparazzi and Jett, who pretended to date you for publicity?" That comment led to some shocked gasps from the crowd, "At one point, I dressed up as a girl and you dressed up as a guy. It fooled everyone, but kissing _Joe_ instead of _Jo _wasn't exactly the highlight of my life."

The upbeat tone of his voice and how he delivered his speech led some people in the audience chuckle. Jo looked astonished. Logan couldn't see Kendall, but he assumed that his friend had one of his trademark smirks on. Logan looked back down at his podium, still feeling ashamed.

Kendall defended both of his friends with his witty quips and remarks. James, although angrier, managed to defend both Logan and himself. Even Carlos spoke against Jo's harsh words. But Logan? He did nothing. He couldn't even defend his girlfriend against her, letting his friends do it for him instead.

But there was one thing Logan could do. James was right, acting like jerks wasn't in their personality, but being crazy was. Even if Logan lacked the courage to counteract Jo's mean words, he and his friends all had the zany personality needed to act silly. Getting Jo to be Sludged was something he could do.

* * *

Carlos whined internally, not liking the fact that he had to stay in one place for so long. He shifted from one foot to another, wondering why he agreed to be on Celebrity Countdown in the first place. Sure, this _was_ the show for celebrities to guest star on. In fact, Big Time Rush had been on the waiting list for three months before getting a call back. But Carlos hated this show. Last summer, Dimelodeon aired Celebrity Countdown right before new episodes of Coco.0, so he's seen a few episodes.

This show was awful. The host was always either really mean or really nervous, and the contestants were rude right back. Carlos knew now that the contestants were probably trying to get their host to be Sludged, and that knowledge made him feel bad. Why act like jerks just to get extra money? Even if the host was mean, it wasn't nice to be mean back.

Carlos didn't want to be on this show. He begged, he pleaded, and he did other synonyms of that word in an effort to not be on Celebrity Countdown. He told everyone about how rude and mean everyone on this program was, but nobody listened to him. No one ever listens to him. Why didn't they? Sure, he wasn't naturally calm like Kendall, smart like Logan, or a giant like James, but that doesn't mean everyone should just ignore him!

It's been about ten minutes since the round started, and Carlos noticed how Jo was pretty much only paying attention to his friends. She hadn't insulted him once, aside from that quip about how James had better fashion sense from him. But he didn't find that insulting because fashion was James's passion, and therefore James was always better dressed than everyone. Was Carlos just un-insultable? Was that even a word? Carlos didn't know. He should ask Logan!

He looked to his side, and saw that Logan was staying downwards at his podium for some reason. Carlos raised his hand and poked Logan once. No response. He poked Logan twice. No response. Carlos sighed, giving up. No one ever paid any attention to him.

The boy wished he had his helmet. He promised long ago that he wouldn't wear it in front of cameras, but he missed it. If he wore his helmet, maybe Jo would make some mean joke about it like she did with everyone else. Not that being insulted was a good thing, but he hated being ignored even more.

Jo was still saying rude things to his friends, and James angrily responded right back. Logan was frozen, unmoving like a statue. Carlos assumed his smart friend was thinking of some sort of smart idea to use against Jo.

What got him was the fact that Kendall continued to stay calm. He couldn't really see him from his standpoint in line, but it sounded like he was trying to uplift the mood. He was undoubtedly bothered by Jo like the rest of them, but he didn't get angry like James did. Carlos liked what Kendall was doing. There must be a reason why he hasn't gotten mad at his girlfriend yet. Maybe Kendall was right; Jo probably was being told what to say. But why? What's in it for her?

Carlos tried thinking of a reason, but he couldn't. There's no reason to why a friend should be mean to another friend.

Maybe Jo really was a jerk.

* * *

Ms. White, Agnes, and Guillermo sat in the control room. Ms. White had a microphone in front of her, and a button to the side. The microphone was connected directly to Jo's earpiece, and the button was to issue out warnings for the girl for when she got off-script.

Ms. White smiled, pleased with the fact that the girl hadn't gone off-script once the entire round. "It seems like this girl really cares about her boyfriend's idiotic cartoon." She said to the other adults in the room.

Guillermo clasped his hands in glee, "Teenage love is so awesome! Look at that; the girl is a natural actress. She insults her friends, and it looks like she really means it, too!" He thought for a second, "Hey, if she doesn't get Sludged, I should totally have her on my show! A pretty but mean blonde girl. Yeah, that's totally original!" He said excitedly.

Agnes rolled her eyes, "Do you really think she'd accept a job offer from any one of us after this is over? Her choices are to either get Sludged and ruin Big Time Rush's television career, or be mean and get hated by Big Time Rush and their fans. Both aren't very appetizing situations."

"Yes, but don't forget about the fact that we have the most popular children's show on television, Agnes." Ms. White said cooly, "Once this episode airs, we'll have millions of tweens watch Jo act extremely rude to the most popular American boyband. Her approval rating will plummet, and making her unwanted by any acting studio. Soon, she'll be booking less jobs than their little friend Camille."

"Remember when we got Camille to host this show back when she was in Magic Middle School? She got Sludged so many times!" Guillermo gushed, "Too bad Magic Middle School was a Dime program! It all went downhill for her after that."

"It went downhill for me as well." Agnes said bitterly, "Camille was the most popular character on that show. Without her, the ratings went down to the point where Dimelodeon decided to cancel it mid-season. Dime then cancelled my other two shows as well!"

"And then you came to work for us!" Guillermo said, "And we're all making way more money than we ever did on our other programs."

"Unless you have another multi-million dollar show to go and run, I suggest you quit complaining." Ms. White told her co-worker, then gestured to the screen. "Look, round two has ended. Band members have been offended. And I had Jo take away Logan's 50 points due to him being 'Too lame to defend himself'."

Agnes commented, "I don't like Big Time Rush. In fact, I hate pop music. But getting Kendall to break up with Jo seems a little-"

"Aw, lighten up, old woman!" Guillermo said, giving the moody lady a quick pat on the back. "This'll be ratings gold! It'll be talked about on the internet for ages, maybe even days or minutes! Once Dime sees how popular this episode is, we'll all get raises _and _another season!"

"We need to be careful." Agnes argued, "It's surprising that the truth of this show hadn't been blabbed about already. If Dime finds out that we've been manipulating the hosts, we could get into serious trouble."

"Oh, Agnes." Ms. White chuckled, "Stay quiet. We won't get caught. We've had six successful seasons, and we'll have six more after we reap in the ratings this particular episode will get."

* * *

Kendall didn't even wait for the Dime employees to unhook his microphone after round two ended before he sped off after Jo. Employees tried to stop him as he raced backstage, but he trudged through, trying to find his girlfriend in crowd of workers. Luckily, the crew of this tv show were mostly men, so it was easy to spot long, golden locks of hair in the midst of the chaos and attribute it to his girlfriend. "Jo!" He yelled, "We have to talk!"

He didn't care that the entire studio could hear his words. In fact, the only reason why Jo could hear him was because of the fact that he was still wearing his mic. She stopped walking, turning around, but she couldn't find him through the crowd.

"I'm over here, by the snack table!" Kendall said. A security guard grabbed his arm, telling him that he couldn't go anywhere until they un-mic'd him. Kendall tried to get free, but the man held him in place as a Dime employee came to take his microphone pack off.

Kendall looked across the room to where Jo was, and saw her looking at him. She begun to take a few step over towards him, but was stopped by a different security guard. He told her something, grabbed her arm, and led her through a door that read 'Authorized Employees Only'.

He saw a sad look on his girlfriend's face as she was being led away. Jo wasn't a jerk, that much Kendall knew. Someone had to be manipulating her, and he just needed to find out who.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Xx**

**I hope Big Time Dreams is a good episode when it airs tomorrow. I heard Lucy's in it. Lucy is awesome. I love Lucy. And that's exactly why I wrote a fic about Jo, who's actually my least favorite out of the love interest trio. I make no sense. Thanks for the reviews!**


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